Dotted with meals.

Hubby remembers meals we've had, here and there, the mules frites in Nice, the crab in Bandon. His memory is connected to his olfactory gland, strong smells that bring back looks and tastes of a whole day.

I remember single scenes, the time at Moulin Rouge in Paris when a young girl in our tour bus traveling with her aunt, attending an evening performance was  chosen to go on stage. On the way back to our bus I noticed she did not have a camera or a souvenir program for that evening and gave her the one I had.

When we meet our children we spend so much time clarifying who was where and what happened when, and each of us brings something else to the scene. Some of us will remember faces; some will remember places; some will remember conversations; and some will remember food and drinks.

I took this picture of my husband in Bandon, next to Cathedral Rock, on a day when we walked for miles, and ended up eating crab sandwiches at Tony's Crab Shack. It graces the cover of my memoir, and it connects me with everything I've ever loved, my family, beaches, good food, and the longing for the past to be caught again in a still life. Notice that he's taking pictures too.

One day, when I've lost my memory, I hope I remember what great times these were.

"A lyrical invitation."

This picture is the title page of my memoir, When I was your Age.
http://lakeviewer-wheniwasyourage.blogspot.com

I chose pictures and titles  to entice you, invite you to come along with me on this beach, to share my life story with you.

It is a "lyrical invitation'.  The phrase belongs to David Orr, as he explains the art of memoir in his interview by Narrative Magazine on June 7th.

Do visit and reflect with him on this concept.

http://narrativemagazine.com

Writing memoir pieces-Step Three.

Establish the Here and Now.

Someone will read your memoir pieces and will ask when and where and how these pieces came together.  You will write one piece today, the next one a month or two from now, or even decades later. What and how you write will be influenced by your mood, your health, your other conditions.  Your reader may not know that your piece about your husband was written after he became ill, after you and he separated.

Establish the here and now in a couple of words and a couple of details.

"As we watched the ocean on a warm June Sunday a few weeks ago,  your father with a blank canvas trying to capture the waves,  I thought about how far away you all were, how busy and exciting your lives were.  I remembered  how we all celebrated Father's Day when you were little, the times at Disneyland. At that time I thought how extravagant ..."

I set up the time and the place and the emotional state of my present before I relive a Father's day of your childhood. This is important for my children to know for two reasons, how they remember the day versus how I remember it, and my status when I wrote this.

I was conscious of this when I wrote my memoir, and established right away that I was an old lady and had one grandchild at the time of the writing.

Step Two: Add the background story.

You were talking about the picture on the previous post. In this step, you'll be talking about what you were doing before or after that picture. Were you at home watching television, doing homework, celebrating...?

This is the time to freeze time, and tell your version of that moment. Was everyone else in that part of the world doing the same thing, the same way?  Add your family's version of a dish, your version of that celebration.

Are you writing these meanderings in long hand or typing them on a computer?
Wouldn't it be lovely for your grandchildren to see your handwriting, how your special letters were formed?